However, it is only since 2014 that HMRC has been able to issue Advanced Payment Notices to expatriates who have used disputed tax avoidance / tax minimisation schemes. These APNs mean that those under investigation must pay upfront and dispute later.
There are a number of issues to consider for expatriates under investigation, not least for high net worth individuals living abroad who may find themselves unfairly targeted as a result of political motives and internal HMRC investigation targets.
Whatever the case, and whatever the possible rights and wrongs, it is essential that expats respond promptly to local tax authorities operating on behalf of HMRC – and the first component of this should be ensuring reliable expat financial advice together with jurisdictional legal advice.
Once this has been done there may, depending on the individual case, be plenty of scope for challenging the recovery of the claimed liability using MARD procedures.
At the moment, politicians across the world – especially, it seems, in the UK – are in the spotlight regarding their tax affairs. Banks, however, will also soon be in the spotlight, as by Friday 15th April they have been told to hand any information regarding their dealings with the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers over to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.
The process of Brexit is a complicated business. It’s been a year since Britons voted to leave the European Union. But how has Britain’s controversial decision and its handling of the situation thus far affected other EU countries’ views of the Brussels-based Union? Has the uncertainty faced by the British Government convinced others to stay put, or do they wish to follow suit and have a Frexit, Spexit, Grexit, etc.?